Captain’s Log 9.21.2105 : Web Comic Script

It’s a bleary, overcast day in the Pacific Northwest and all systems are go for the motion web comic. Yes, we’re making a 13-episode motion web comic as well as a game. The comic will serve as a prelude to the game and will tell the story of Valerie Matthews, a young school teacher who gets in over her head with the family of one of her students. The comic is titled, “Death of a School Teacher: A Dire Dilemma.” It relays the events that lead us to Dire Mansion in the game.

We’ve been working on it for over a year, writing the scripts (Elan Stimmel and I co-authored it), creating thumbnails, and figuring out how to bring it to life, because we want it to be interactive. Our artist has already completed the first four episodes and is currently working on the 5th.

Making a web comic is fun, but it’s a lot more work than one might think. Because we’re telling a story over the course of 13 episodes, we needed to have it all plotted out in advance. Elan took six episodes and I took seven. We alternated so that the blending of our two styles would be more natural, then we exchanged the scripts and gave feedback to one another. In this way, we honed the story to a shine. Elan and I had many excellent meetings over sushi. Nothing like sushi as brain food to stir the creativity.

One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is seeing a character I’ve created brought to life by an artist. We got an early taste of this with our first round of storyboarding with Grace Jensen. Though they were rough and done at a table in a Starbucks with Elan and I hovering over her, it was magical.

We found Emily Duda, our comic artist, via ConceptArt.org, a website for connecting artists with employers. We interviewed several artists, peering over their submitted examples, but Emily had the style and talent that we were seeking. She lives about as far away from me as you can get without leaving the USA (I’m in Seattle, and she’s on the East Coast). We communicate via email and occasionally on Skype. She’s been an amazing collaborator and a consummate professional.

The images you see here are some of the panels from the comic, done by Emily Duda.